Each of you three must bring one of the ulemas with you,
and the fourth must bring the sheik here to me. Go at once, and
return quickly.-And you," he said, turning to the four who remained
behind, "swear to me, in the name of Allah and the prophet, that you
will be hewn in pieces sooner than yield to the rebels!"
They all swore, placing their hands upon their swords, that they
would be hewn in pieces sooner than yield. Mohammed nodded
graciously to them.
"Good! When the soldiers bring the men we will surround them, and
the rest will follow."
Their hands upon their swords, the soldiers stood waiting beside the
door.
Mohammed remained silent and thoughtful in the middle of the mosque.
He felt that a great, an important moment had come for him. He
thought of his mother. "She hovers over me; she looks down, and sees
her son enter on a new life. When I leave the mosque, I will be no
longer the poor, despised boy; I will have proved myself a man. O my
mother, look down on me, and pray to Allah to be merciful to me!"
A dark shadow crossed the rays of the sun which fell through the
open door. It was one of the soldiers who came in with the sheik.
Mohammed did not step forward to meet him, as he should have done,
out of respect for the old man, with his white beard. To-day he was
no longer the poor boy, who must bow down before his superiors.
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